Hundreds of people took part in the Alcatraz Invitational Swim sponsored by the South End Rowing Club.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Hundreds of people took part in the Alcatraz Invitational Swim...

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Paul Tiffany (left) helps Max Ashton after the 17-year-old joined the big swim from Alcatraz.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Paul Tiffany (left) helps Max Ashton after the 17-year-old joined...

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Swimmers participating in the Alcatraz Invitational Swim sponsored by the South End Rowing Club were greeted by fans and families at Aquatic Park Sunday September 29, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. A small group of blind people from the Foundation for Blind Children joined the annual swim from Alcatraz to Aquatic Park becoming the first group of sightless people to swim from the rock to the San Francisco shoreline.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Swimmers participating in the Alcatraz Invitational Swim sponsored...

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Seeing-impaired swimmer Katie Cuppy takes one big last breath and swims to shore.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Seeing-impaired swimmer Katie Cuppy takes one big last breath and...

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Tanner Robinson, (second from right), is greeted by his teammates after completing the swim from Alcatraz Sunday September 29, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. A small group of blind people from the Foundation for Blind Children joined the annual Alcatraz Invitational Swim sponsored by the South End Rowing Club, becoming the first group of sightless people to swim from the rock to the San Francisco shoreline.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Tanner Robinson, (second from right), is greeted by his teammates...

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Seeing impaired person Tanner Robinson (third from left) took a deep breath as he and his helpers made their swim Sunday September 29, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. A small group of blind people from the Foundation for Blind Children joined the annual Alcatraz Invitational Swim sponsored by the South End Rowing Club, becoming the first group of sightless people to swim from the rock to the San Francisco shoreline.

Max Ashton climbed Mount Kilimanjaro at just 13, crossed the Grand Canyon a year later and Sunday, at age 17, completed the notoriously arduous swim from Alcatraz Island to Aquatic Park in San Francisco.

The high school college prep senior from Phoenix has the grades and dreams to get into Harvard, Yale or Stanford. Last year, he even got the chance to throw out the first pitch at a big league ball game. It was, of course, a strike.

For all his athletic and academic accomplishments, you might forget one slight obstacle: Max is blind. That is the exactly the point Max and two other visually impaired swimmers wanted to make in taking the 1.25-mile plunge on a bright, slightly chilly morning on the Bay: Being sightless does not mean you must lose sight of your dreams.

Max - accompanied by three sighted swimmers as guides - finished in a little over 50 minutes.

"It's just good to show people I can do everything, really," Max said after he made it across the bay. "I feel great now. This is huge. Next is college."

After him came Tanner Robinson, at age 24, the self-described "geezer" of the trio of visually impaired swimmers on the Bay. Robinson, too, has climbed Kilimanjaro and made the rim-to-rim trek across the Grand Canyon in fundraising events put on by the Phoenix-based Foundation for Blind Children.

"This one, for sure, was the hardest one," he said of the challenges.

Robinson, who works at the secretary of state's office in Arizona, finished in an hour and 16 minutes.

He said he kept going, despite the cold water and his novice status as a swimmer, thanks to months of training at Arizona's Lake Pleasant.

"The nice thing about being blind is you don't know where the finish line is," he said. "It was just like another training."

Right behind Robinson at 1 hour and 24 minutes was Katie Cuppy, 19, who is studying special education and hopes to teach blind children. "This shows we can do anything else a sighted person can do, without limits," she said.

The hardest part of making the swim is staying on a straight line. Max was guided by two brothers, Mike and Paul Tiffany, both of Phoenix, who made sure he did not veer off course. The brothers said the trip was uneventful, although Max clocked one of them when he swam too close.

"I took a couple of shots in the face from Max," said Paul Tiffany, who has made a total of six Alcatraz swims.